Chris Cornell and Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden Reflect on Breakup, Talk New Single

Soundgarden’s new album ‘King Animal’ is due out on Nov. 13 and fans received their first taste of what’s in store with the disc’s debut single ‘Been Away Too Long.’ According to the band, the new tune is a very literal take on their extended absence and return to music.

In a new interview with OnstageWeb frontman Chris Cornell and bassist Ben Shepherd sat down to talk about their break up, reuniting, the first single, and today’s music scene. The first thing they tackle is the single ‘Been Away Too Long. When asked what it really means, Cornell responded, “It means that a group, in this case personified by Soundgarden, has been away and the length of that away time has suddenly become maybe overextended.” He continued, “So been away too long, like thank God we’re back now. It seems like it might have been a little bit too long for us to be gone.”

On the reason why Soundgarden broke up in 1997, Cornell explains it was everything but the music, saying, “We broke up because we were bored of the periphery, all of the things that are outside of the band playing music and writing songs, playing shows – that part got really boring.” Shepherd chimed in as well, adding, “The part that is outside of writing songs and playing shows. So it wasn’t the Soundgarden thing, it was the outside of Soundgarden.”

In the absence of Soundgarden, both seemed surprised that a new rock revival hasn’t taken over. “I always expected that after we broke up or even maybe before we broke up that there should be or would be some very vital scene, numerous interesting rock bands that are kind of taking the history of rock music and making it their own,” explained Cornell. “Updating it and making it their own vital thing like a child with a new toy.”

Welcome back to Loudwire

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on .
To keep your personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you.
To activate your account, please confirm your password.
When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

Welcome back to Loudwire

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to http://loudwire.com using your original account information.